Finding the Write Opporunity
I recently received an email from the owner of a site called TheWriteFinder.com.
Normally I delete emails if I don’t recognize the return address, but for some reason I opened this one. I guess its because the message said something about freelance writing projects. The email was
sincere enough so I decided to visit the site.
It appears that TheWriteFinder is a writing broker. They bring clients and freelance writers together. Each week TheWriteFinder sends an email listing of writing opportunities to their writers and the freelance writer has an option to respond to or bid on the writing projects.
It seemed on the up and up so I decided to click on the “Register now” link. When I went to register I found that they charge a $6.99 annual administrative fee. While $6.99 a year isn’t much at all, I elected not to sign up.
With free sites such as Constant Content, oDesk, Guru and other free bid for work sites, I didn’t see a need to pay for a bidding site.
According to the site, many writers have secured full-time writing jobs once they completed projects through their service. If that is true, $6.99 is a very small fee to pay. However, given the option to make money with or without paying an annual administrative fee, guess which one I would choose.
If anyone has any experience with TheWRiteFinder.com, I’d be interested to know how you’re doing with them.
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Comment by Veronique (11 comments.) on 8 November 2008:
Felicia,I applied with Destination 360. I’m concerned because they require a sample article. I’m proceeding with caution; my concern is if they don’t choose me, they still will have a free article. I could have sworn I saw something about this a while ago on another freelancing site. Red flags are appearing before my eyes. This is what Kristin Kendle had to say to me:
Kristin Kendle
to me
show details 4:54 PM (6 hours ago)
Reply
Hi,
Thank you for inquiring about our Travel Writer position. At this point I feel its best to provide more details about the job so as to gauge your interest. To give you a little background our site, Destination360 has been online for about 5 years slowly building to the point it’s at today. This is a startup venture backed by a successful interactive media company http://www.studio360.com. Each guide contains approx 40-60 articles of approximately 400-600 words and assignments consist of either large guides like this or smaller update assignments ranging from 1-30 articles. As you will see the style of writing isn’t what I’d call Lonely Planet quality or one of the other brand name travel guides, but more an emphasis on search engine keywords and providing basic content for the traveler.
We are currently looking for a writer to write for a specific project requiring articles on Caribbean cruises, Caribbean islands, and other cruise-focused Caribbean content. The writing is research based. Initially, there will be about 80-100 articles with the potentially for more and likely the opportunity to continue writing for Destination360 after this project is over if you are interested.
The successful candidate for this position will have the ability to write well, write prolifically, and implement our keywords. Our current writer has been charging a rate of $10 per article.
I know this will not appeal to everyone so if this doesn’t sound like your kind of gig there’s no need to reply.
If you are interested, I would like to request you to write a sample article for review. To write a sample, please use the keywords below. Use each of the two keywords at least 3 times each:
Title: Keywords:
bahamas
Bahamas, Cruises to the Bahamas
Thanks for your time I look forward to hearing from you.
I haven’t been able to find any reviews of Destination 360. The site is nice, but I’m still unsure. If someone has had any experiences with this site, please give some feedback.
Thank you.
Comment by Felicia on 8 November 2008:
Hi Veronique,
I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of Destination 360. I tried to find more info on them, but it seems the info is a little thin.
They have a nice Alexa ranking as far as websites go, but that doesn’t tell me anything about how they treat their writers.
If you’re truly concerned, why not send Kristen Kindle an email inquiring about what happens to the sample if you are not selected as one of their writers?
Some sites will specifically state that they will pay the writer if they use the sample, while others don’t. I’ve written a few samples and have been paid for them. The ones where I didn’t receive payment, I used the work elsewhere (usually on one of my own sites). I guess that’s one of the risks with freelance writing.
Depending on how Kirsten replies to your email will determine which way to go next.
I’d love to hear if anyone else has had experience with Destination 360.